


Man Down

by zeejayblue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Shiro needs a break, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump, does sick/comfort count as hurt/comfort, i don't see enough of sick shiro, shiro whump, so here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 00:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11324979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeejayblue/pseuds/zeejayblue
Summary: Shiro had a small headache, and it quickly turned to much worse.





	Man Down

    Shiro peeled open his eyes from where he lay in bed. He sighed heavily, rubbing his temples as he stared at the ceiling. A dull headache took residence behind his eyes, and moved closer to his temples. Shiro sighed again and rolled over to glance at the time.

    It was half past four, and Shiro gave up trying to go back to sleep. He usually got up around five anyway, so a half-hour difference wasn’t too much to deal with. Shiro never got enough sleep, and usually got two to three hours a night, four hours if he was lucky. He always got up early to train and eat breakfast, and to make sure the other paladins were well rested and fed before they began their day. 

     Shiro was running on two hours of sleep, and a headache was tagging along with him today. It probably wasn’t anything to cause concern. Shiro just guessed his awful sleeping habits were finally catching up with him. Shiro yawned as he poured himself a cup of coffee, rubbing his temples again when he set down his mug.

    Shiro grabbed something quick for breakfast and sipped on his coffee until someone else woke up. Usually he was up first, followed by Allura, then Coran, then Hunk, and then Pidge, then Keith, and Lance. Lance usually wasn’t the last one up by a huge amount of time; it fluctuated between a 15-20 minute difference from when Keith got up.

    Just as he suspected would happen, a half-asleep Allura stepped into the kitchen, yawning as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

    “Morning, princess,” Shiro greeted, his voice gravelly from sleep. Allura hummed a reply, sipping her coffee before sitting in front of him. Shiro’s headache slowly began to worsen, prompting a groan. Allura looked at him with concern.

    “Are you alright?” She questioned, slowly setting down her coffee mug. Shiro sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

    “Yeah, I just… have a headache,” He replied, his voice sounding slightly strangled as the pain increased.

    “I think my lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me,” Shiro added, rubbing his temples for the umpteenth time that morning.

    “You are to go back to bed this instant,” Allura ordered, standing up and grabbing Shiro’s arm.

    “But I already had my coffee,” Shiro replied, scrunching his face in confusion.

    “Caffeine cannot replace the sleep that you need,” Allura pointed out, dragging Shiro down the hall. Despite being smaller than him, Allura could drag Shiro’s body weight without even hesitating. 

    “But I didn’t train yesterday, I need to train today,” Shiro replied, desperately trying to go back down the hall and into the training room. Allura swiftly blocked Shiro’s bedroom doorway after pushing him inside.

    “Access denied,” Allura stated in a sing-song voice. Shiro’s shoulders drooped and he sighed as Allura shut his door.

    “Get some rest,” Allura called as she walked back into the kitchen. Shiro knew she was right; he did need more sleep. His sleep schedule needed to be fixed and, to be honest, he was still exhausted. Sighing, Shiro retreated back to his bed.

    Shiro huffed as he got back under the covers, tossing and turning to get more comfortable. He rolled to face the wall and sighed again, adjusting his position slightly until he was comfortable.

    After staring at his bedroom wall for a while, Shiro felt exhaustion catch up to him. It always did whenever he found time to sit or lie down. He felt his eyes flutter closed, and he then drifted off to sleep yet again.

    Coran and Allura were in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Coran was confused to find Shiro missing from his usual spot in the kitchen, but Allura explained that he was ordered to go back to bed when he got a headache from lack of sleep.

    A few hours passed and Shiro was still asleep in his room. Hunk and Pidge were genuinely concerned when Shiro wasn’t in his usual place, and then Hunk and Pidge were more concerned when they found he had a headache and went back to bed. Keith and Lance were concerned as well, but instead of stressing over it, they decided to leave Shiro alone to catch the break and sleep he needed.

    At around 10 in the morning, Shiro woke up again. The headache had worsened, and brought sweats, chills, a fever, some sneezing, and coughing along with it. Shiro groaned as soon as all of the symptoms had kicked in at once, immediately draining him of the energy he just got back.

    He had fallen ill.

    Shiro hasn’t been sick in a long time. His diet and physical fitness level usually fights off illness for a while, but it let him down this time. He sniffled and sighed, rolling on his back to stare at the ceiling. 

    Shiro sneezed three times in a row, each sneeze louder and more intense than the last. He groaned loudly, lying back down and proceeding to wallow in his misery.

    Shiro sighed from his spot in bed. He needed to get up and train, but he couldn’t find the energy to even lift a finger. Shiro guessed he was going to be here for a while.

    Shiro sat upright, his heart beating faster at the sudden change in altitude. He felt woozy and sighed as he wiped the sweat that was collecting on his forehead. He gave up and laid back down in bed, sighing as his dizziness faded.

    Shiro began to fade in and out of a hazy, uncomfortable sleep. Time seemed to pass by in short bursts whenever his eyes shut. 

_  “Paladins! Report to the training room immediately!” _ Allura’s voice called over the intercom. Shiro groaned, sliding out of bed to find his paladin armor. Dizziness tried to knock him over as he stood up, but he eventually got his paladin armor on despite wobbling every few seconds.

    Shiro huffed, leaning against the doorway to catch his breath and let his dizziness fade before he headed off to the training room. He wiped off beads of sweat from his forehead as he walked down the hallway. All of the other paladins were far ahead of them, and he felt like he was about to pass out.

    Shiro stopped briefly, his hands to his knees as he caught his breath. Briefly turned to about a minute or so, and Shiro attempted to briskly walk to the training room to make up time.

    “Shiro, you’re last! You’re  _ never _ last,” Lance pointed out with confusion. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him, and he needed to come up with an excuse and  _ fast. _

    “I’m kinda slow today, sorry, my head still hurts a little,” Shiro replied. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. Shiro wasn’t lying; he wasn’t lying at all. In fact, his head hurting ‘a little’ was actually a serious understatement. His head was _ throbbing. _

    “We’re closer to the next planet taken over by the Galra than we thought, so we need to be in top physical shape when we get there,” Allura stated. Her voice sounded muffled and distant to Shiro; he could hardly hear what she was saying at all. The only thing he could hear clearly was his pulse and the blood rushing in his ears.

    Shiro could see Hunk staring at him from the corner of his eye. Hunk was giving Shiro some look he couldn’t quite read. Shiro decided to ignore it and shoved most of his energy to trying to hear what Allura was saying.

    “So, sparring. Lance spars Shiro, Keith spars Pidge, and Hunk, you’ll be Pidge’s sub,” Allura explained. Everyone took their places, and Allura decided to spectate from the opposite side of the room.

    “All right, let’s do this,” Lance smirked, cracking his knuckles and stretching his arms. Shiro took a breath. Currently, it was taking all of the energy he had just to stand up. How was he going to spar with Lance?

    “Ready?” Lance’s voice questioned. It sounded so muffled and distant, but Shiro nodded anyway. He gulped and prepared himself for impact. Shiro knew that since they were both wearing armor it wouldn’t hurt; he just hoped he’d have enough energy to absorb the impact.

    He didn’t.

    Lance was smirking victoriously with a knee on Shiro’s chest. He’d never beaten Shiro in a spar before. 

    Lance’s confident look quickly turned to one of concern when Shiro didn’t stand up, or at least say something. Lance realized Shiro’s eyes were closed and immediately grew more worried.

    “Shiro?” Lance questioned slowly, removing his knee from Shiro’s chest and placing it on the ground next to him. Lance began to panic and shook Shiro’s shoulders.

    “Uh, guys?” Lance called, his voice raising in pitch as he grew more concerned. Lance noticed Shiro was shaking and sweating. He raised an eyebrow and placed his hand on Shiro’s forehead, hissing at the sudden heat that hit his hand.

    “He has a fever, sweats, and he’s shaking,” Lance stated as everyone rushed over, his voice less worried but still concerned. Hunk left the room to grab some water. 

    Shiro slowly opened his eyes and noticed everyone was hovering over him with concerned faces. Shiro quickly bolted upward with a cough, causing everyone to quickly jerk back. Allura rushed to his side and supported his torso so he wouldn’t fall backwards.

    Hunk returned with two water pouches and handed one to Shiro, who took it with a shaking hand. Shiro suddenly realized how thirsty he was and drank the whole thing.

    “Why didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well?” Allura questioned firmly. Shiro thought for a minute.

    “I… said my head hurt, didn’t I?” Shiro mumbled, mostly to himself.

    “You did, but you also managed to leave your fever out of the picture,” Allura responded hotly. 

    “Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt your training plan,” Shiro muttered, shakily reaching for another water pouch.

    “Your health is more important,” Allura assured. Shiro smiled softly at this, and opened his mouth to say something. All he ended up doing was having a coughing fit.

    All of the paladins helped him back up and helped him get back in comfy clothes, and urged him back to bed. Everyone came in every once in awhile with some tissues, water, snacks, soup, or just their company. 

    Even though they can be a pain sometimes, Shiro truly did enjoy having the other paladins around. They became a second family to him. Shiro knows that when or if he ever got sick around them again, he’d be in good hands.

**Author's Note:**

> i doN'T SEE ENOUGH SICK SHIRO SO I DID THIS  
> it's just a small drabble but *shrug* take it  
> i have no motivation for my other story rn so tAKE SOME SICK SHIRO


End file.
